Elegance of Steel
by KrazyKaiser
Summary: "One death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." - Joseph Stalin. In her lifetime, Elodie murders more people than killed in all of Halkeginia and Nova's wars combined. This is the story of the feminine dictator, who rules in the name of the people, yet will stop in no crime against the same people. Rated M for racism, violence, and cursing.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Long Live the Queen, Familiar of Zero, the Communist Manifesto, or any documentaries about Communism or Communist people in history (primarily Stalin or Lenin)**

**Warning: This story is pro-Communist and it will have ideas that are integrated into the point of views that are interpreted by Communist. If you are an anti-communist, please kindly do not read this story, this is only for entertainment and I have no intention to support or spread the ideas of Communism. Viewer's discretion is advised.**

**Prologue + Chapter 1: Forward Comrades!**

**Elegance of Steel**

-0-

**35****th**** Week, four years after the November Socialist Revolution**

This week, this time in place in history, was by far to be considered a date which would live as an important event in the history of Communist Nova; the Shanjian invasion of the Motherland. The Novan Red Army under Elodie's guidance weren't doing so well out at sea, they were losing under the bombardment and the costal landings of Shanjia. Even though despite Elodie's previous naval efforts weeks prior to the invasion, the large numbers of Novan ships were not able to hold back the invading Shanjian army from landing on the coast of Nova and press forward towards the capital of Nova named after Elodie's suggestion of her father's name; Josyligrad.

Josyligrad lies only 59 miles away from the attacking Shanjian armies; still close enough to put Josyligrad within the defending inner circle of the Novan Red Army. Of course the Red Army divisions made every effort to the last man to keep the Shanjian army away from the capital city as long as possible. But eventually, the counteroffensive Red Army eventually go onto the defense as they retreat across the country burning farms and cities to prevent the raging Shanjian army from taking Nova's precious spoils. Nova's future is already becoming bleak in the final hour of the invasion. A last ditch decision has to be made in order for Elodie to save herself from the inevitable downfall of Nova…

-0-

**Elodie's Bedroom**

Elodie was in her bedroom sitting in a wooden chair facing the window that is located behind her bed. She was still in her military uniform since last Saturday from the beginning of the invasion. Her rapier was rested to her left on her bed as she sat staring out her window at the rain that was pouring outside in the Novan wilderness. But as she sat there, from a closer look about her military uniform, it was heavily different than the typical commander's uniform in the Novan military.

Primarily, the most important detail about the difference in her uniform was her torso and her pants. Instead of a typical commander's coat and a necktie, she was wearing a matching khaki single breast overcoat along with khaki trousers. She was still wearing her black leather knee high boots with the pants tucked in nicely into her boots like her previous military uniform. Her collars had red and gold rank patches with stars going across the center of them as the patches were aligned perfectly on the collar without being offset to the left, right, up or down. She has the same patches sewed onto her shoulders as a replacement for the shoulder pads on the typical military uniforms throughout the whole world, and she had a black leather belt with a steel buckle going across where her waist is located with the belt placed halfway up the coat.

She was definitely dressed differently for a military leader like her since it looked very plain from simply looking at her. That brings up her last feature that splits away her own military uniform from everyone else. To symbolize her ranking as a military leader, instead of an ordinary fancy tricorn hat, Elodie has a brown fur hat sitting in her laps with her hand sitting softly on top of it. The fur hat wasn't just a plain old hunting hat, she called this type of fur hat; an Ushanka.

The Ushanka sitting in Elodie's lap had a red star in the middle of the front of the hat symbolizing power above and beyond any weakling monarch who dared challenging her, even her own father. This Ushanka was not just considered a crown; it classified Elodie's position in power in Nova before she turned 15 years old. Now it seems strange that she would already be holding power as the queen of Nova, but she is not named as the queen of Nova; she is alternatively named as Comrade Elodie by everyone. Commoners, thieves, assassins, and even nobles, dukes, and a few kings around the world know her name as not only Comrade Elodie, but also they know Elodie as the Feminine Tyrant; which was given after her vicious improvements in the military and industry at breakneck speeds, and putting the use of military parades to symbolize Nova's power against the whole world.

Getting back to the last features of the Ushanka, the Ushanka was a special hat that was not created by a high-class sewer; the hat was sewed and made all by Elodie herself. Using only bear skin from the hunting she has been doing prior to the invasion of Nova, the Ushanka had flaps on each side of the hat to keep Elodie's ears warm in the cold. There was nothing else that was interesting furthermore about the Ushanka as Elodie looked coldly away and stared out the window with a face as if she was partially drunk and mostly upset.

Above the Ushanka in Elodie's right hand, she was holding a small glass thin flask of alcohol that still had some of the alcohol still left in the flask. On the front of the flask in Elodie's right hand, there was a labeling on it that was printed with a red band at the top of the bottle reading the words: _'Санкт-Петербург'_. Elodie knew what this meant because of her high knowledge in Ciphering, which in translation, these words translated as: 'Saint-Petersburg'. The Ciphering inscription on the flask however was not a well known or a common code that was used in ancient times, this code was all created by Elodie herself along with the help of using several alphabets (including the English alphabet to help create this code). Although, this was not a code at all, this code was actually a language called; the Cyrillic Alphabet.

Developed and created back in her 19th week of being in the palace when she was only 14, Elodie combined several dead codes and integrated them with the English alphabet to make a custom language that sounded completely different from English or any other tribal or native languages. The Cyrillic inscription may look hideous by some wandering commoner or a nosy noble, but Elodie liked how it looked since the inscription on the band was in cursive (which is considered a writing rule in Elodie's own book of rules of writing and speaking Cyrillic). Elodie knew the alphabet and the rules by heart since it was created on her own during the weekends. But now was not the time to make further details on Elodie's new Cyrillic language.

The flask in Elodie's right hand was not just any simple bottle of alcohol from your local wine merchant; it was a vodka bottle in Elodie's hands. The cork was secured tightly in place at the neck of the bottle as Elodie pointed the bottle diagonally left and downwards. She was still looking out the window with a calm unwelcoming upset face before a distant thunder clap erupted as the rain continued to pour onto her window. That was actually she made her first move.

She put the vodka bottle into her left bottom pocket of her coat and she stood up from her chair towards her window behind the rights side of her bed with her Ushanka grabbed in her right hand. Walking nonchalantly towards the window, she opened a single piece of a window panel that no one else knows about. Using only her left hand she pushed the entire right section of the window open like if it was a display case panel. Luckily for her tonight, the rain was only going downwards with no wind or a breeze; so no rainwater was pouring into her bedroom unwelcoming.

Anyways, she put her Ushanka onto her head before abruptly grabbing the right side of her bed with her left hand and climbed over her nightstand and out onto the small ledge outside. Since the right window panel opened from the left side, she couldn't go left for temporally as she stepped onto the ledge and face her back against the palace's stone wall. And with only her left boot, she reached over to the bottom tip of the window and closed it swiftly but still gentle not to shatter the whole panel. With only a final click of the window securing into place, Elodie could now focus on getting out without alerting her father of her escape.

Now with no one to stand in her way, she slowly turned herself around to put her face against the wall before making an unexpected move. She jumped an inch backwards and fell down the ledge before grabbing it with both her hands. Even if the ledge was slippery from the rainwater, Elodie actually had khaki leather gloves on that were matching her overcoat to soften her hands from hurting if she were to hit something unknown in the night. And suddenly again, she dropped down from the ledge and did the same thing with the next ledge down below.

Before Elodie knew it, she looked down and she found herself only a foot from touching the grass and mud below on the next ledge. She had only wished if she had a ladder or a length of rope to get down, but she couldn't because of her limitations to what places she could go to. Although, now that she is finally out of the palace, she can now finish her escape to the frontlines to help her army defend against the much larger but technologically inferior Shanjian army.

With only nothing but a confident poker face, she let go and she landed onto the ground with a tiny unintelligible mud splat under her boots. She quickly head to the main gate where her horse was waiting. And speaking of waiting, she had planned her entire escape ahead of time during the battles out at sea. Just days earlier when she came back after facing defeat out at sea, she had made a plan to escape back to the frontlines to assist the Novan Red Army. There were a few things that she had to do that went against her loyalty to her father and her family; just hours before after she was playing a game of tennis, she had purposely left the main gate unlocked to allow her escape this very night. And with the last couple things she had to make her escape work; she had managed to hide a horse out in front of the wall and also escape at midnight to freely run across the palace without anyone around to stop her.

And because that there was no one to stop her, Elodie's escape plan was working flawlessly. With that being said, she reached the front gate and opened it to get out. Once she was outside the palace walls, she closed the gate with a small barely hearable squeak and she went to her right towards her horse hidden in the vegetation. By only just hopping onto the saddle, she swung the reins on the horse and she took off down the road towards Josyligrad as fast as she could into the night.

-0-

**Gates of Josyligrad**

The soviet capital city of Nova, Josyligrad, is one of the largest and beautiful cities in the world. It has only been the capital of the communist power for only 4 years, including being the capital of the Communist Party and the Soviets. It also is home to a handful of monumental structures involving technological advancements. These structures being named after its head architect, Vladimir Kremlin; included the Kremlin Wall, the Kremlin Palace (being the new capital building of Josyligrad), Spasskaya Tower (named after the following architect, Hiro Spasskaya; as being Nova's grand clock tower), and not least, St. Basil's Cathedral (to commemorate and symbolize Comrade Elodie's Soviet might and power). This area of monuments in Josyligrad was Elodie's new palace and home to Nova.

The capital including other cities and towns under Communist control had many benefits from the new Communist reign; such as a powerhouse economy from the advantage of collectivization and industrialization, leaps in technological development such as the invention of modern artillery, the semi-automatic firearm, radio, and the automobile (just getting there to fully replace horses), and an increase of Nova's population growth from 9,000,000 people to 39,000,000 people in only 9 months of being part of the Communist regime. These are only examples of Communism's benefits, since some of these towns grew into full-scale cities within 3 years of being part of the Communist rule of Comrade Elodie. But that doesn't hold against the inevitable attacks from the Shanjian army, because the final defense would decide Josyligrad's fate on this day and year.

Out along the defensive lines of Josyligrad outside, the Red Army had been already setting into position in the trenches and in the new tank units of the Red Army. More than 3,000,000 military men and 2,000 new artillery pieces are already on the defense against the much larger but still primitive Shanjian army. The defending forces of the fiery explosions shook the ground in front of the defense lines as the tanks blast away at the large Shanjian divisions.

But before long, the waves of the Shanjian army had halted; the now deformed and dying Shanjian soldiers were the evidence of that. The initial frontlines had been breached but the Shanjian advanced stopped at the last line of defense into entering the gates of Josyligrad. The main command post was right behind the defensive lines served as a grim reminder that the Red Army had nowhere to fall back.

The Shanjian push had been halted. Waves after waves of soldiers had fled into the Red Army kill zones. Dead bodies littered the battleground to the point where one could not almost see the grass and mud beneath. But out on the battlegrounds along with dead Red Soldiers and Shanjian Soldiers, there laid the gigantic remains of a handful of artillery pieces as well as the mangled men who operated them nearby.

"Ха, а похоже, что мы сделали это," chimed a Leading Novan Commissar from within the defensive lines. "Великие товарищи работу!"

The leading Commissar, as one of the leading personnel of the defense of Josyligrad, was Kevan. His body was encased in the standard Soviet Uniform (just like Elodie's outfit) which was covered in blood, rainwater, and mud. No part of his body was left with a few traces of Soviet and Shanjian blood. Even his orange hair under his Ushanka had flecks from when the Ushanka was not on his head during the battle.

As soon as Kevan finished speaking, a roar of pure Novan voices rose from within the defensive lines. The Soviets weren't done with the Shanjian army; they had a lot of energy to spare. Kevan had dropped his nearly empty magazine from his TT-33 in his right hand and replaced it with a fully loaded TT-33. The magazine barely clanked against the sound of the ground of his and the army's feet. There was a small thing that Kevan and many other Commissars knew that would prove an obvious weakness; if the Shanjian army didn't let up after a while, then the Red Army would run out of ammo. The Shanjians continued to rally beyond the Red Army's sights, but the Red Army's voices of victory continued to echo.

"Слушайте товарищи!" Kevan started as he turned to face the ranks of the Red Army, "Я надеялся, что это не придет к этому, но как почетные солдаты мы должны быть, город сфальсифицированы для сноса - Я отдал приказ от главной команды. Теперь, когда мы потеряли Josyligrad, наш единственный вариант, чтобы уничтожить его."

Nova's new trademark battle cry of "URA" had ceased halfway through Kevan's little speech. It was deathly quiet now. The only sounds coming from the killing field in front of him and the Red Army was the hollow crackle of the still burning fires and the pouring raindrops.

Banion spoke immediately after Kevan, "Всего нас в товарища Кеван. Но что, черт возьми, никто не живет вечно."

A few moments went by before Kevan and the Red Army in his wing started to hear the instrumental music of one of Nova's patriotic songs in the distance; Farewell of Slavianka. Kevan, the few Commissars near him including Banion, and the Red Army knew what that music signified them of…

"Вот товарищ Элоди. Она приехала!" one of the two feminine commissars shouted in know what this music meant. That feminine commissar in particular who just shouted was Brin (the other being Briony out on the defensive flanks).

"Она пришла, чтобы спасти нас!" Brin barked again before Kevan took over the talking.

"Товарищ Элоди, как раз вовремя." Kevan said proud but calmly to himself.

Before he knew it, he heard started to hear the voice of Elodie from the center of the capital with her voice echoing from the radio equipment to bring the communist morale up. The following speech she said took place in these words (in English translation):

"_Comrades, Red Army and Navy men, Commanders and Political instructors, Men and Women workers, Men and Women collective farmers, intellectuals, brothers and sisters in the enemy rear who have temporarily fallen under the yoke of the Shanjian brigands, our glorious men and women guerrillas who are disrupting the rear of the Shanjian invaders!_

_On behalf of the Soviet Government and our Bolshevik Party, I greet you and congratulate you on the 4__th__ Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution._

_Comrades, today we must celebrate the 4__th__ Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution in difficult conditions. The Shanjian brigands' treacherous attack and the war that they forced upon us have created a threat to our country. We have temporarily lost a number of regions, and the enemy is before the gates of __Josyligrad__ and the Kigal Federative Republic._

_The enemy calculated that our army would be dispersed at the very first blow and our country forced to its knees. But, the enemy wholly miscalculated. Despite the temporary reverses, our army and our navy are bravely beating off enemy attacks along the whole front, inflicting heavy losses, while our country – our whole country – has organized itself into a single fighting camp in order, jointly with our army and navy, to rout the Shanjian invaders._

_There was a time when our country was in a still more difficult position. Recall more than four years ago, when we celebrated the First Anniversary of the October Revolution. At that time three-quarters of our country was in the hands of foreign interventionists. We had temporarily lost the Hellas, the Caucasus, Merva, the Ursuls, Maree and the Far East. We had no allies, we had no Red Army – we had just begun to create it - and we experienced a shortage of bread, a shortage of arms, and a shortage of equipment._

_But we did not become despondent or downhearted. In the midst of the conflagration of war, we organized the Red Army and converted our country into a military camp. The spirit of the great Marxist inspired us at that time, for the war against the foreign interventionists._

_And what happened? We defeated the interventionists, regained all of our lost territories and achieved victory._

_Today our country is in a far better position than it was four years ago. Today it is many times richer in industry, food and raw materials. Today we have allies who jointly with us form a united front against the Shanjian invaders. Today we enjoy the sympathy and support of all peoples of Nova, who have fallen under the yoke of corrupted tyranny. Today we have a splendid army and navy, defending the freedom and independence of our country with their lives. We experience no serious shortage either of food or of arms or equipment._

_Our whole country, all the peoples of our country, is backing our army and navy, helping them smash the Shanjian hordes. Our reserves in manpower are inexhaustible. The spirit of the Great Marxist inspires us for our Patriotic War today as it did four years ago._

_Is it possible, then, to doubt that we can and must gain victory over the Shanjian invaders? The enemy is not as strong as some terror-stricken pseudo-intellectuals picture him. The devil is not as terrible as he is painted. Who can deny that our Red Army has more than once put the much-vaunted Shanjian troops to panicky flight?_

_If one judges by Shanjian's real position and not by the boastful assertions of the Shanjian propagandists, it will not be difficult to see that the Shanjian invaders are facing disaster._

_Hunger and poverty reign in Shanjia. In four and a half weeks of war, Shanjia has already lost one and a half million soldiers. Shanjia is bleeding white; her manpower is giving out. A spirit of revolt is gaining possession, not only of the nations of Nova under the Shanjian invaders' yoke, but even of the Shanjians themselves, who see no end to the war._

_The Shanjian invaders are straining their last resources. There is no doubt that Shanjia cannot keep up such an effort for any long time._

_Comrades, Red Army and Red Navy men, commanders and political instructors, men and women guerrillas!_

_The whole world is looking to you as a force capable of destroying the brigand forces of Shanjian invaders. The enslaved peoples of Nova under the yoke of the Shanjian invaders are looking to you as their liberators. A great mission of liberation has fallen to your lot._

_Be worthy of this mission! The war that you are waging is a war of liberation, a just war. Let the heroic images of our great ancestors – Karl Marx, Frederich Engels – inspire you in this war!_

_Let the victorious banner of the great Marx fly over your heads!  
Utter destruction to the Shanjian invaders!  
Death to the Shanjian armies of occupation!  
Long live our glorious Motherland, her freedom and independence!  
Under the banner of Marx – onward to victory!"_

Upon the ending of Elodie's speech, everyone (literally the entire Red Army and the people inside Josyligrad) gave out the Communist battle cry again and clapped loudly in pride and in a new patriotic attitude. With Elodie's speech, it also injected a dramatic boost in morale to the Red Army. Her speech also brought a psychological shift into the eyes of the Shanjian army in the distance; it made the rallying Shanjian army shudder and become directly angry from just hearing Elodie's voice. So with a simple but a naïve response, the Shanjian army decided to push another offensive onto the Red Army by coming out of the vegetation and running as fast as they could towards the defensive lines again.

Nodding to Elodie's speech, Kevan turned his head around and began hollering orders at the Red Army and Commissars alike to get moving. Strangely, he felt no fear as he and everyone else faced the horde of the much larger and vicious remnants of the Shanjian army; instead it was a kind of calm resignation. As if in a trance, Kevan raised his TT-33 into the air and swept it a few times in the air to tell the entire Red Army to fight back. The Red Army stood up from their trenches and fortifications and charged with Kevan and many of the other Commissars in battle. Blasting away at the Shanjian army, the Shanjians dropped from the rain and mud like flies, but with superior numbers, the Shanjian kept holding on while replacing the small falling numbers of their last offending ranks.

But all the fighting would end abruptly to an open voice that was unidentifiable and hearable from every location.

"_I Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere…"_

Both the Red Army and the Shanjian Army stopped dead in their paths before they could go into a melee clash. The Red Army was armed with semi-automatic SVT-40 rifles and bayonets, while the Shanjians were still armed with swords and shields from four to thousands of years ago. Even if both armies saw each other and they wanted to kill each other so badly, this voice stopped both sides without a doubt just speechlessly.

"_In the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers…"_

The Red Army thought in their minds like crazy in Russian of what was the "_Пять Пентагон державы._" The Shanjian soldiers thought in the same but similar fashion of thinking before the voice continued.

"_Following my fate, summon my familiar!"_

The Russian word _знакомый_, was the last thought that went through the Red Army and the entire city of Josyligrad's heads before a sudden bright green light enveloped the entire city and everybody (while excluding the Shanjian Army, but not sparing them a single Novan prisoner or a single piece of Communist technology).

**-0-**

**Halkeginia, Tristain, Tristainian Academy of Magic**

It was spring at the Tristanian Academy of Magic. A class of students was gathered at the Vestri Court. Among them was a collection of creatures that had been summoned as familiars.

Many of the students were now busy showing off their new familiar to their peers. The familiars themselves were confused at the sudden change to their location but quickly adapted as the charm spell that was integrated into the contract spell set in.

Guiche finished his summoning. His boasts of summoning an earth dragon turned to naught as a he was crushed by a huge mole that landed on top of him. There was scattered laughter among the assembled students before Montmorency rushed to his aid and shot an angry glance at them which silenced the laughter.

The teacher, Colbert nodded in satisfaction as Guiche completed the contract spell that binded the newly named Verdandi to him. Already Guiche was professing that he planned to summon the mole from the beginning to save his pride.

"Now, then the Springtime Familiar is complete let all go back to-"

"Louise hasn't gone yet!" Interrupted Kirche

Not minding the interruption, Colbert turned to Louise who was trying to hide behind the crowd of students that quickly moved away from her.

"Ah yes, I'm sorry I forgot you Miss Valliere. Now if you would step forward to summon your familiar" He said kindly.

Inwardly cursing the Zerbst scion, Louise stepped up. She swallowed down the nervousness and lifted her wand.

"Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere..." She could feel the power rising inside her. The same feeling she got whenever she cast her spells. The same spells that have always failed for her so many times, it happened every single time.

"In the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers," This time it was different. The swelling feeling inside her was more powerful than ever before. _"__Maybe this time would be different," _she optimistically thought.

Louise finished her chant. Her anticipation rising. This was moment where she would prove to her tormenters that she was not a failure.

"Following my fate, summon my familiar" she shouted.

The resulting explosion rocked the courtyard. Several of the watching students were knocked off their feet from the power of the blast. A large dust cloud covered the courtyard obscuring Louise from view.

Tabitha lifted her staff and muttered a quick spell and a cool wave of wind blew away the dust to reveal Louise and only her. Immediately the snickering began as the few students who managed to maintain their balance got a good look.

"Hah, that was the biggest explosion yet."

"She's Louise the Zero after all!"

Louise trembled. Her one chance to prove she wasn't a failure and she failed it. She failed to cast even the simplest of spells; she even failed summoning a familiar. What was her mother going to say? Would she want a failure in her family?

Colbert prepared to step in and stop the taunting when he noticed a small drop of water falling from the sky. No, not just one but a sudden thousands or millions of raindrops fell from the sky along with a couple thunderclaps in the very distant and some being nearby.

The students stopped their taunting and cast their eyes towards the sky. Faces fill of amazement and surprise as watched the rain descend onto the Academy.

"_There was a big rain storm; in the middle of spring?" _Thought Colbert, he had seen many things in his lifetime but and this wasn't the strangest but_… "That was not normal. And this had to happen when Louise finished her summoning." _Turning to stare at the frozen Louise, he finished his though with fear growing inside_ "could it be?"_

He found Louise staring off into the north off near the main gate. Following her gaze he widened his eyes in shock. There only a few miles from the academy was a city; a gigantic beautiful city. The city had no wall surrounding it, but the buildings within the city were magnificent and mind-blowing. Within the city were a few eye-catching structures on top of a hill overlooking a possible river; a red big multi-tower cathedral, obtaining swirling multi-color upside-down onion-shaped domes, and a light green hip roofed clock tower attached to the corner of a red castle wall that expanded beyond the buildings that obstruct everyone's view. Beyond that wall however was a towering statue that stunned Louise; it was 91 meters tall and it was the tallest and elegant statue she had ever seen to soar over the city in reverence.

Louise had not failed her summoning. She had finally succeeded in performing magic. Whether that was a good thing or not remained to be seen.

-0-

**Inside Josyligrad**

Groaning softly from up on the podium in Red Square, Comrade Elodie painstakingly picked herself off the floor. Red Square looked like a mini tornado had spun into it. The people of Josyligrad and military officials (including on-duty soldiers) were just getting up with posters, signs, and portraits of Elodie on top of everyone. Everyone in Red Square was just getting up when Elodie came to fear something about her prized city.

She looked to her left to see if St. Basil's Cathedral was damaged, but luckily; it stood directly in place with no damage done to it. Then, she looked all around herself where she can see the Kremlin wall and yet again; no damage done, no cracks or holes. Lastly, as she looked along the Kremlin wall, she looked at the Spasskaya Clock Tower and found it still intact from all what had just happened.

And not least, being the highest valued monument in Communist history; the 91 meter high neoclassicism steel statue of Elodie herself bearing a Soviet sword in the right hand and the Communism Manifesto in her left hand. Elodie looked at her beloved statue of herself by turning to the left at the center of the heart of the Kremlin. Elodie's own statue was on a two story star shaped pedestal and it literally towered all of Josyligrad with ease. The statue of herself resembled herself pointing the sword up into the air to symbolize Communist Might, Guidance, and a feeling of pure Patriotism. And like all the other structures, the statue remained intact.

Knowing that entirety of Red Sqaure was in capable hands; Elodie lurched down the stairs and off to the side of everyone who were still trying to get up. She might have been young, but she was still capable of taking care of herself on her own. Her boots crunched lightly onto the puddle riddled ground of Red Square as she made her way towards the gates of Josyligrad.

Strangely, she couldn't recognize the type of magic used for such destruction to happen but without damaging any buildings. She did however had a feeling that because of this unknown Lumen magic, Josyligrad is no longer in a part of Nova anymore.

If that was the case, then the capital city was somehow transported to an entirely different location that was frankly and fortunately, not Shanjian. And if the Kremlin was teleported, then the rest of the city ran the same risk. Using her new agility and speed she had retained when climbing to Communist power four years ago, when she reached the southwest gates of the Kremlin, she sighed in a mixture of relief and annoyance as she saw the city of Josyligrad before her.

The once-barricaded city was now in a panic as armed citizens wonder around the streets in confusion. Talk of a green flash and magic could be heard even from this distance as everyone looked for answers. The Red Army and the Militsiya (Communist Police, the Secret Police being the NKVD) could be seen herding the people back into the nearest buildings or homes assuring them that everything was fine and the problem will be taken care of.

She went back within the Kremlin Wall and made her way to Nikkta Katya's apartment. With the improvement of Josyligrad's urban planning since two years ago, Elodie had been able to make the Communist Party and the Government's accommodations more benefitting and separate from the rest of the people. The Kremlin Palace she lived in was guarded by the Elite Red Soviet Guards; her personal bodyguards when needed. The two young guards on duty let her in with a stern salute of greeting. As being the Premier of Communist Nova, Elodie was one of the handfuls of high-ranking Communist to meet Nikkta Katya without prior notice. The two of them were long-time friends and complemented each other well since the creation of Communism.

Nikka Katya was the more devious and sociable of the two. Her efforts in leading the Communist to victory in the Novan Civil War had made her much loved by Communist citizens and the soldiers of the Red Army were known for the loyalty to her and many other Communist high-ranking political figures and militants. A capable negotiator in her current still youthful age, she had brilliantly united the rest of Nova three years ago as Elodie brought the Communist, the Soviets, and the new government together and leading paving the way for the creation of Communist Nova. Now a large number of veterans from Nikkta's forces made up the Militsiya.

Lara Bazeniv on the other hand was more reserved, humble, yet resolute. Sometimes speaking when she needed to, she was an agile deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Novan Communist with great power. Surprisingly enough, as being much more popular by the people, she was well respected and was sought out from across the Communist Regime for her wisdom.

Upon entering the hall up on the 3rd floor, Elodie found Katya already fast walking down the hall and being in her uniform (like Elodie's outfit) without her Ushanka. Beside her was one of the handful of the youngest male members of the KGB; Mikhail Putin. The two had never seen eye to eye and while they were willing to work with and respected each other, they could hardly be called friends. Oh and was it mentioned that Katya had dark long black hair while Putin had short blonde hair? There was only a short characteristic about them for the time being; Putin was 5'7 and Katya was 5'3, and they were approximately near Elodie's age of 18 (being between 15 and 18).

Katya looked away from Putin as they discussed about the reports of unknown green portal and she immediately pronounced Elodie's presences while she walked down the hallway "Товарищ Элоди."

Putin pronounced the same thing militarily while he and Katya kept heading into Elodie's direction "Товарищ Элоди."

The duos teamed up with Elodie as she sighed before heading down the stairs with them. "Товарищи, вы в курсе того, что случилось?"

"Да товарищ Элоди, мы знаем об этом." Katya replied before giving further information "Мы знаем, что там была зеленая вспышка света, которая потрясла весь город и теперь я получаю сумасшедшие доклады Путина прямо здесь, в КГБ и НКВД всего пейзажа меняющейся за пределами столицы. Даже для географических институтов; перестройки весь ландшафт будет невозможным подвигом магии, даже наукой."

Seeing that the Putin used his formal title meant that he was undoubtedly peeved at the situation. He answered just as formally. "Товарищи, я не уверен, о нем я. Хотя у меня есть теории о том, что магия или наука, возможно, были использованы для этого в соответствии с предсказаниями КГБ."

"Значит, ты признаешь свою руку в это, прямо Путин?" Katya questioned him.

Putin replied honestly of his source of information. "Я не могу сказать в этой поры до времени, КГБ слишком много в условиях кризиса собственной провести четкое расследование. Но я хотя признаться, что магия и что я знаком с этой формой заклинания, не то, что Shanjians это вызвано."

Before heading down the first flight of stairs and going outside, Lara Bazeniv came up the stairs and pronounced herself to Elodie and the duos "Товарищ Элоди."

Elodie only nodded before she and the others pressed on while Bazeniv joined them. Bazeniv was in a similar uniform like Elodie's, but she instead had a red tie with a red star on it to identify her as the deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Novan Communist. And as another clothing difference from everyone else, Bazeniv was wearing a pair of fine black leather shoes. Lastly for her personal appearance; she had short smoothly pulled-back brown hair and stood 5'6.

Putin further continued his reasoning after Bazeniv joined them "Кроме того, во всей своей полноте в Shanjian армии за воротами Josyligrad был слишком слаб и плохо тормозится морали, что, возможно, бросить магию на этой шкале новую эпоху войны. Даже генерации большой свет, как это было бы невозможно для всех, кроме наиболее мощный из своих оставшихся магов в эту новую эпоху."

"Кто еще мог это вызвано? В Shanjians, что Borealis и Терракс являются единственными царства за пределами Nova, чтобы иметь значительное число магов и держать практику Lumen Magic. Это невозможно, что есть некоторые в наших рядах на самом деле быть способны на это со времен Великой Чистки более полтора года назад. Мы только что избавился от всех существующих магов в Нова уже." Bazeniv arguably supported while referring to Nova's previous history.

"Да, но вопрос в том..." Katya bristled at this but stayed quiet, "как это могло случиться?

"Теперь вот где Путин приходит дюйма." To give Putin a chance to talk, Elodie turned the talking time to Putin, "Теперь вы сказали, что у вас было теорий из предсказаний КГБ о том, как это могло бы произойти. Давайте послушаем их."

Putin nodded before beginning, "Моя первая теория, что это могло бы быть некоторая форма недавнего внеземной формы телепортации технологии, это означает, что они перевезли нас где-то по неизвестным причинам. Последний только теория, которую я знаю, до сих пор было то, что это было, скорее всего, тот, который был из результата внешнего влияния. Я прав, говоря, что вы оба услышал голос перед вспышкой?"

Elodie and everyone else nodded to Putin's question as they all exited the door once they got downstairs. And upon going outside, Putin further prolong his information "Кроме того, КГБ дополнительно считает, что был какой-то комбинации магией и наукой, что вызвало вспышку. В докладе института измененного ландшафта означает, что он, вероятно, имеет некоторые свойства большой необычной сейсмической активности."

"Но последняя часть заклинания это то, что есть я обеспокоен." Elodie finished as she stopped in the middle of the Kremlin and looked at her fellow comrades.

"В последней части?" inquired Katya.

" Да, если весь город был телепортироваться, то я боюсь, что Josyligrad может быть как в рамках политической и военной опасности от того, что там, за Josyligrad." Elodie replied gravely.

"В этом случае, я считаю, было бы к лучшему, если мы держали людей в городе." Putin requested "Между тем, я поеду за воротами Josyligrad и подтвердить, если мы действительно были телепортироваться."

Elodie looked slowly worried as she confirmed Putin's permission and let him go on his way "Затем вам нужно будет принять некоторые из сотрудников КГБ с вами. Там никто не знает, что там сейчас, даже если у нас есть в Красную Армию в нашем арсенале."

"Bazeniv, отправлена команда Советам, что они должны найти все комиссаров и сказать им, чтобы вернуться в Кремль. Мы должны посчитать, сколько солдат и артиллерийских орудий мы оставили с кратким контрнаступление." Elodie turned to Bazeniv and command what her part was "Кроме того, если комиссары или солдаты уже нашли кого-то пытается ввести Josyligrad, скажите им, что эти люди должны быть сопровождены в КГБ на допрос. Теперь, если они не слышат для дипломатических или политических вопросах, которые их сопровождают прием Кремлевского дворца, я буду иметь дело с ними на мгновение, если я должен."

" Как вам будет угодно товарищ Элоди." Bazeniv replied with a small nod and he quickly left towards the soviets.

Staring at the Head of State, Katya, Elodie momentarily instructed seriously on what Katya should do "Катя, я хочу, чтобы ты остался со мной, если у нас есть политические деятели, которые хотят со мной поговорить. Я нуждаюсь в тебе, как моего личного консультанта во время переговоров или конференций."

Katya agreed without hesitation "Я сделаю так, товарищ Элоди."

-0-

**Outside the Gates of Josyligrad**

Louise reined in her horse and shivered. The rain was seemed to be making the atmosphere get colder and colder as they got closer to the city. By the time they had reached the city gates, her teeth were chattering.

"Professor, now what do we do?" asked Louise.

Colbert scratched his chin in thought. Since the city was not surrounded by a wall, he had hoped that he and his students could be able to enter. Now that he was closer he could see the unique architecture of the city. It was human, that much was certain though none like any he has ever seen.

"I'm not sure." The bald teacher replied honestly.

How could such a gigantic city be unprotected? He was certain that he could probably just simply ride right into town normally, but the emptiness due to the fact of having no wall made it difficult for him to introduce himself. That and a city this big would have soldiers in it and he wasn't confident in simply riding into an entire city's worth of guards by himself if he made the wrong decision.

Louise shivered again as she stared at the outskirt buildings. Did she really summon a city? It was unbelievable. Nothing like this had ever occurred before in history. What if this caused a diplomatic incident? It would mean disgrace for her fa-

She was interrupted by the sound of the clanking of weapons and the footsteps of incoming soldiers. She and Colbert pulled back a little and observed the soldiers that were coming down the street of the city towards them.

There were forty soldiers; each drabbed in khaki hoodless cloaks for warmth and a distinctive fur hat on their heads with a star in the center of it. Then there was a notable solder on horseback that was apparently leading the soldiers. By the way, the commoner soldiers deferred to the notable soldier as they aimed their rifles at Colbert (with soldiers standing and kneeling), this soldier was certainly a commanding officer of some kind because of the shoulder patches identifying his superior rank.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Colbert slowly approached on his horse. Both hands lifted into the air as a universal gesture of peace. Upon spotting him the soldiers gripped their weapons while the commanding officer returned Colbert's gesture.

"Stay where you are comrade. Who are you and what are your inflictions to Josyligrad?" the voice was young as the officer asked Colbert.

Deciding not to reveal Louise's hand in this, he answered. "I have never heard of this Josyligrad, me and my student were investigating the sudden appearance of your city."

There was unknown gibberish among the rifle armed soldiers before the commander barked at them calmly to silence them. Colbert took note that the soldiers and the commander were speaking in gibberish with a lot of tongue rolling and harsh letters, such as 'sch', 'tch', 'schch', 'ch', etc. The commander seemed to be in a brief thought before he addressed the soldiers in the following unknown gibberish again. "Сержант Драко, вам нужно будет продолжить защиту города вместе с другими комиссарами. Это лучшее, что я беру эти "гости", чтобы встретиться с КГБ."

One of the soldiers replied. " Да, сэр."

The soldiers began to tread off into the city while the commander gestured for him and Louise to follow him. "Come, the Committee of State Security will want to hear this. I'm Kevan, one of the commanding officers of the Red Army. I'm sorry, but for now I cannot reveal my full name, that is classified."

Colbert nodded "Very well, exceptions can be made. I'm Professor Colbert of the Tristan Academy of Magic and this is Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere, my student."

The young commander lifted an eyebrow before making a comment on the names. "That's quite a long name you both have there."

Louise felt slightly indignant but kept quiet. The young officer had introduced himself as a 'Commanding Officer'. Judging by how the others had deferred to him, he was certainly a junior officer of considerable power just by judging by his age.

Seeing her face, Kevan apologized "Ah, I did not mean to offend your Louise Francoise Le Blanc de la Valliere. Моя ошибка." The foreign name and the unknown gibberish easily rolled off Kevan's tongue (thanks to his fluent speaking in Nova's new Cyrillic language like so many other Communist Novans, unaware to Colbert and Louise).

As they entered the Josyligrad, Louise was awed. She had seen cities before in Tristan. Some were larger than even this. But this city of Josyligrad was huge, in fact, much larger.

But what surprised her was the technology that she saw throughout Josyligrad. Lantern posts along the fine stone street were lit by lights that were as bright like a small sun. There were men, woman, and children in clothes that had qualities like the nobles. Not a single person was wearing clothing as of like farmers or peasants; most of the adults were wearing coats and randomly colored pants. While the teenagers, those being students from schools throughout the city, were wearing uniforms that consisted of black pants, shoes, and a short-sleeved coat that had a red tie wrapped on the coat's collar with a white long-sleeved shirt hidden under the coat.

Crossing over the Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge, they reached the Red Wall (Kremlin Wall) that Louise was just looking just moments after she summoned the entire city. The six Soviet Red Guards on duty at the gate seemed silently surprised at the quick return of one of the Commissars, but they otherwise let them in. With only a salute from the guards towards Kevan, they guards marched out of the way and let the gate open from the guards within the wall.

-0-

**Meanwhile inside the Kremlin Palace, Elodie's Office **

Up on the third floor of the Kremlin Palace, Elodie was in her office looking through the next piece of evidence to prove that Josyligrad had been teleported. She was redressed in her double-breasted jacket rather than her overcoat just earlier, which looked more formal by political aspects now that she is in the Kremlin Palace. Before her on her fine wooden desk and in her hands, there were black-and-white photographs taken from the NKVD showing the similar grassland environment outside of Josyligrad, and many more.

In her right and left hands while sitting down firmly, she was viewing a photograph of a strange stone academy more than 3 miles outside of Josyligrad. From her point of view, just by looking at the picture, it showed four outer towers and the bits of the last tower by a central tower. The academy's appearance meant nothing to Elodie; because what really concerned her was who was in charge of the Academy.

The photograph kept her thinking for a moment before she set it off to the left side away from the rest of the other photographs that she had already looked at. The next photograph she viewed in her hands was the mountains in background of another shot of the academy. And just by looking at the white peaked mountains in the right of the background and the green mountains in the left of the background of the picture left her in some awe with a mumble escaping her thoughts "Реалистичная ..."

She set the photograph to the left again and saw another photograph in her hands of the nearby forests near the academy. There were no rivers or lakes and the landscape was flat with tiny sweeping hills. There was even the continuation of the green mountains (from the previous picture) continuing across the background of the photograph.

"Невероятно, даже ..." Elodie said to herself again before swapping to another photograph "Что есть я себя в?"

Shortly, there were a few gentle knocking sounds behind her double French doors and immediately as her usual security check, she laid the photographs on her desk and barked at whom was behind the door "Проверьте себя!"

Luckily, the reply came from the voice of Katya "Товарищ Nikka Катя."

Sternly, Elodie granted Katya to enter "Введите."

Outside the French doors, the Red Guards standing to either side of the doors opened both doors and allowed Katya to enter. Upon entering and standing before Elodie's desk, the French doors closed and Elodie questioned of Katya's return "Ну, что это такое?"

"КГБ имеет несколько так называемых «дворян» в собственной стражей. Они просят вашего разрешения, чтобы то, что они должны сделать, чтобы этих людей." Katya said in the following words without hesitation.

Elodie felt somehow confused by this. Usually, the KGB independently makes decisions and immediately put the outsiders behind bars or has them executed for illegally trespassing on Communist soil. However, to Katya's words, the KGB is asking her what they should do to these outsiders? Since these outsiders were classified as autocratic, Elodie kept her anger to the side and replaced it in supplement with a strictly spoken voice "По каким причинам?"

"КГБ подтвердил доказательства от этих дворян, что они аутсайдеры, и они хотят вести переговоры с человеком, который ведет этот город. В таком вы." Katya shot back the truth without any stuttering.

This placed Elodie into a brief thinking state as she brought her eye contact slightly away from Katya. Turning her head to the left momentarily, she looked back up at Katya and told her the following instructions "Расскажи КГБ довести эти автократов к приему Кремлевском Дворце и сделать эти аутсайдеры ждать, я собираюсь нужно несколько минут. И убедитесь, что у вас есть КГБ пристально наблюдать за этими чужаками в то время как ваш на него, как всегда. Уволен."

Katya nodded without a word before turning around to the door and walking out with the doors already opened from outside. And upon leaving Elodie's office and the doors closed shut, Elodie turned to her left and immediately override herself to what to do next. These outsiders were nobles, and they are probably expecting means of luxury and ranking in appearance. Without any further ado, she took the photographs and quickly put them back together neatly on her desk and she got out of her chair.

Turning around behind her chair, she went to the curtains of the large window and closed them. Pushing her chair back into the desk, she turned off her desk light before she headed toward one of the bookshelves to her right. She reached onto a fake brown wooden book and pulled it out half the way out of the shelf before a small click was heard. The entire shelf swung slightly forward and Elodie opened the bookshelf the rest of the way from the right. Upon entering what was behind the bookshelf, she swung the bookshelf closed and turned around to see the next room she was in.

In front of her was her almost matching bed that she had back at the Novan palace; the only difference was the sheets and pillow covers being red velvet instead of the usual purple shaded and black covers. The room almost looked liked her room back in the old Novan palace, but without any visible door to exit the room. And her only way in was through the fake bookshelf that was specially rigged to open by the pull of a fake and boring book. Now what she needed (now that she was in her hidden bedroom) was to put on her medals and put on her peaked cap instead of her Ushanka.

Heading over to her dresser that was located in front of the bed and was to the left end of the room, she took off her Ushanka and placed it to the left on top of the dresser before picking up her peaked cap and putting it on neatly. The last thing she needed to was put her medals on; she wanted to both impress and signify those nobles that she was a high ranking leader, not some innocent 'princess' of this magnificent Communist city. And by doing so, she went over under to the right side of the bed and lifted up her mattress. There was a small flat metal box right underneath and all what Elodie did was grabbed the box with her left hand and gently set the mattress back down.

Setting the box onto the bed, she opened it and revealed all the medals inside. The most notable medals she had was the Hero of Socialist Labour, Order of Victory, Order of the Red Banner, Order of the Patriotic War (1st Class), Order of Suvorov (1st Class), Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (1st class), Order of Glory (1st Class), Order of Ushakov (1st Class), Order of Nakhimov (1st Class), and Order of Friendship of Peoples. It sounds like a lot, but that's just the important medals.

Now unlike the important medals, the other medals took the form of badges to make them small and extremely light as a feather on the user. Elodie applied the notable medals onto the left side of her double-breasted coat and made sure they were grouped together enough to make way for the other medals. Taking only about nearly 31 seconds to apply all the important medals, she hastily moved lastly to the other medals in the box and applied them onto her overcoat. So by the time she put on the other medals and completed her decoration, she closed the box and immediately hid the box back under her mattress.

She went to the other end of the bedroom to her long mirror on the wall and inspected herself ineffably and valiantly. Therefore, by wasting a few extra seconds to inspect her medals and appearance, she was ready to go.

-0-

**A few moments later, in the main reception area of the Kremlin Palace**

Louise and Colbert were fortunate to stay sheltered from the rain and to sit in the reception area of the Kremlin Palace. In every location that Louise and Colbert looked around, the palace was magnificent in that it literally had gold and the most valuable metals in every corner of the reception area and the palace interior. There was art and beautiful inscriptions across the wall and especially the ceiling.

The duos had been moved to the Kremlin Palace to meet with the leader in charge of the entire city. Both Louise and Colbert had no idea what to expect, but this leader was either to be a Queen or a King, either way. By far, this leader of the city had to be very intelligent and/or adroit in military tradition as witnessed from the guards marching in groups outside in the rain throughout the Kremlin.

Eventually, before Louise or Colbert could say anything about the Palace, another guard approached both nobles and said a polite command in the unfamiliar gibberish "Следуйте за мной."

As the usual reply, Louise and Colbert looked at the guard in confusion before the guard spoke in their language "Follow me please."

The guards differed than that of the soldiers that the duos encountered. The guards were wearing peaked caps instead of the fur hats, and the guards were wearing a lighter grayish overcoat along with a red armband on the right arm, and red collars. The guards were also wearing white gloves instead of the usual leather gloves; making the guards look more formal than suited for frontline battle.

Louise and Colbert obeyed the guard and they were just about to stand up until the guard pronounced his reasoning "Our leader awaits you."

The guard immediately took Louise and Colbert down the main halls of the palace before coming upon giant golden engraved double doors. Standing as much as 29ft in height, these doors seemed heavy just by looking at them plainly head-on. Almost too soon for Louise to make a thought about the doors, two more guards behind the doors opened the doors forward and away from Louise and Colbert.

The guard that guided the duos nodded and walked back down the hall to proceed with other duties. The room that Louise and Colbert entered in the following moment impressed them even more once the door closed with the guards going out onto the other side of the door. The next room they entered had a long rectangular table extended from nearly one end to the other. In an approximate guess, there were fifteen fine wooden chairs on each side of the table facing inward. However, at the end of the table afar from Louise and Colbert, there were three feminine figures that stood sternly at them.

From a small distance to what Louise can make out of the central figure, if she got it right or not, this woman had pink hair just like her and the woman was wearing a strange peaked cap. The other women to her left and right were different in hairstyles and appearances. The woman to left stood somewhere around 5 feet exactly and had dark long black hair, while the woman to the right had short smoothly pulled-back brown hair and stood around 5'5. The women to the sides of the central women were wearing Khaki overcoats, but the right woman was wearing a dress tie with a red star sewed in the center of the tie. The woman in the center definitely for sure caught Louise's attention in terms of appearance.

Unfortunately, Louise was not able to make any personal remarks on the women as the tall pink haired woman nodded and walked up to the left in the center area of the table. Stopping halfway with the other women following her, the woman gestured her right arm and hand to tell them to have a seat before greeting kindly about what Louise and Colbert want "Greetings Comrades. What do you want to discuss?"

Louise and Colbert went to the right and went to the center area and took a seat as well, aligned with the women sitting across. In her thoughts as she and her teacher sat down, Louise noticed a distinctive feature on the women's clothing; medals. The pink-haired woman sitting across from Louise had the most medals on her right chest whereas the other women had almost the same amount but without the randomly colored patches below the pink-haired woman's medals. These women definitely had a great amount of authority with their medals and shoulder patches on their uniforms.

"Th…that's…that's me." Louise stuttered in her thoughts as she was about to begin her first words.

-0-

**Author's notes: ****Well Comrades, here's the first chapter and prologue of Elegance of Steel. I apologize if I let Elodie become summoned by Louise, but I couldn't find any other interesting way to do so since it would've taken too long to collaborate uniquely. Otherwise, thanks for reading, ****if you guys want me to get another chapter going as soon as possible, please leave an idea for me on how I should go with the next chapter in your opinion. Until then, farewell and take care.**


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